Menton on the French Riviera

 We arrived in the afternoon at the beautiful town of Menton on the French Riviera. 

We flew in to Nice and then took a train along the coast. Then it was about a ten minutes walk to our hotel, and a couple more minutes to the seafront.

The sun was starting to go down as we wandered along the promenade to the old town. What a lovely place. The area has been occupied for thousands of years, and a Roman Road used to go through the middle of it on its way to Arles.

Nowadays the town dates from the middle ages and is on a very steep hill.

The most dramatic section was the staircase Saint-Michel,

and the Basilica Saint-Michel at the top.

The area is also famous for its warm microclimate which is perfect for growing lemons. We tried out the lemon sorbet and it was incredible.

First thing this morning we set out on a sightseeing jog along the coast. The sun was rising in the east and the air was clear.

We jogged all of the way to the Italian border, and got the photos to prove it.

This was the turn around point, and then back along the prom towards Monaco. I was pretty tired by this point, so one last photo of me looking rough and then I stopped.

Daz heroically carried on and finished the route. 

When the blackbird sings

 We had an amazing experience last night called 'When the blackbird sings' .

First of all we had to get there, which involved catching a bus to the outskirts of Oxford to an estate called Blackbird Leys. The estate was built in the 1950's and 1960's to re-house people from the delapidated inner city areas, including where we now live. It also housed factory workers from the nearby motor plants and people from the Caribbean who came to work for the NHS, factories and other jobs.

All of the audience met in the local pub, although Darren and I were some of the few who bought a drink because it was cash only. And then after a quick check of our headsets we were off to meet Paulette, our guide for the evening.

Paulette was a time travelling cleaner from 1966 who lived in Blackbird Leys and caught the bus to her job in the centre of Oxford. She narrated the evening and sat next to Darren for part of the journey. She chatted with the conductor and various other people who got on the bus. 

We had travelled a couple of miles and then the bus was stopped by a loud protest. A group of sufferagettes waving placards wouldn't let us pass and marched up and down yelling 'votes for women'. 

Eventually they let us go past, and then a hippy from 1969 who took drugs and didn't believe in money got thrown off by the conductor, while a pastor who had escaped from Nazi Germany in 1942 came and sat next to me. He was very polite and gave me a lemon sherbert that had apparently been in his pocket for a long time. 

Once in Oxford we all got off to meet Alan LeRoy Locke who was the first African American Rhodes Scholar. He also later wrote a famous book that Paulette was carrying with her. 

The evening carried on in this style and we also went to the original meeting of Oxfam - originally Oxford famine relief for Greece during WW2, then we met an Indian princess who went to Somerville College, Dudley Thompson who was one of the first black pilots in the RAF, and St Frideswide from 727 who fled a forced marriage and became patron saint of Oxford. 

Once back on the bus we were joined by a very sweary pregnant lady who was desperate to get to the hospital to give birth to her fifth baby, but was very nasty to Paulette. 

Finally, back at the Schwarzman Centre, we followed a procession of Caribbean nurses fighting against discrimination and for equal pay. 

What a strange, funny, educational and fascinating event. 

Open Doors weekend day two

Today we started at a building called Blavatnik School of Government. It's part of the overall University and is 'designed to support the School's mission of inspiring and promoting better government around the world'. Probably quite a difficult task. 

Unfortunately it was raining so we didn't get a photo from the outside, and I think that it will be impossible to imagine it's shape from these pictures of the interior. We thought that it was great, and they also had a superb choir singing chamber music.

Next we went to Somerville College which is practically next door. This is quite a modern college and only established in 1879. It was the first Ladies Hall in Oxford and they worked for many years to get Oxford to allow women to take degrees, and finally achieved this in 1920. The most famous former student was Margaret Thatcher. 

Moving on we went to St John's College, just as the rain started to slow down. This is a huge college dating from 1555,and is full of beautiful old buildings. 

To be honest, I am getting confused as to what we saw where as we have seen so much over the weekend. Everything is starting to blur together and what is left is the remembrance of a great day. 

However the next visit was definitely to the Bodleian Library and the Divinity School. 

This was basically one spectacular room that was originally used for lectures, exams and theology discussions. It was built between 1427 and 1483,  and it was extremely busy so we didn't stay long.

Lunch break, then on the road again, starting at Corpus Christi College and this podium with a swan on top is the first thing that you see on the way in. 

Next door is Merton College, and this is a  very good one. It has the usual lovely buildings and a particularly large garden. 

The garden overlooks the water meadows of Christchurch College, and this stone table is in a great position to enjoy the view. 

Both C S Lewis and J R R Tolkien, who were great friends were inspired by the table. Mr Lewis used it as inspiration for the scene in The lion, the witch and the wardrobe, where Aslan the lion was sacrificed. Mr Tolkien didn't use the table in a book, but actually used the table as a writing desk whilst creating Lord of the rings. 

Then on to St Edmunds college, known locally as Teddy's. The high point, quite literally was when we climbed the stairs in the tower to the top of the library. 

Lovely views of the spires of Oxford from the windows. We were actually in the old church which is now converted into the library and has 87 spiral stairs with books on all of the floors. 

Then visits to Harris Manchester College which was nice but not exciting, and Wadham College with its elegant front facade. 

Jesus College - this was founded by Queen Elizabeth the First in 1571. She never visited it but there is a superb portrait of her in the dining room. 

Phew, what a weekend. 

Oxford Open Doors weekend

Darren has a full programme of events for this year's Open Doors weekend. For the last few years we have always been away and missed out on this opportunity to visit lots of places that are not open to the public, but this year we got it right.

We started with Christchurch College - this was extremely popular and Daz booked tickets as soon as they came out. 

We have walked and run past the outside of the college, but this is our first time inside. We started at the spectacular cathedral and were met and blessed by the new Arch Deacon. Shame about the clashing footwear. 

We also met the real Chief Verger and admired the amazing stained glass windows. This one dates from 2023 and shows St Francis, patron saint of the environment and animals. 

Of course, we couldn't miss the Dining Hall where parts of the Harry Potter films were shot. 

After a quick break we moved on to Queen's College with its incredible front gate and statue topped frontage. This college is much smaller than Christchurch while and very grand, it seemed a more homely size. 

A famous student was Rowan Atkinson who did his PhD here and donated money to pay for new chairs in the lovely dining hall. 

Unfortunately I learnt that fact after we took our photos and I don't think that we can see the chairs in this picture. 

Just across the road is University College, the oldest college in Oxford and was founded in 1249.

Every college seems to have its own church, dining hall and quadrangle, and they are all very impressive and very different to each other. Also, they all have incredible stained glass windows in the churches. However, what struck me most in University College's church, was the very unattractive figures of Adam and Eve with the apple tree. 

I nearly forgot, all of the colleges also have fancy libraries, and this one looked very much like a church. 

We asked one of the student volunteers about it and apparently in the 1840's a very rich donor had a statue made of his grandfather Lord Eldon and his brother Lord Stowell. He wanted to donate it to the college, but they said that they had nowhere to put it, so he also then donated enough money to build a library to house the statue. What a result. 

Apparently, the reason that the library resembles a church is because the architect that they chose usually designed churches, so perhaps that was the only style that he could draw. 

Finally, and getting tired by now, our last college of the day was Magdalen. 

Another huge, extremely wealthy college that is next to the river and the punting station. 

Finally, finally, last night we went to an authentic Flamenco show. The performers were all from Seville and the dancer had the most beautiful costumes.